£££ 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 






UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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EVENING. 

Down the dim western heights the daylight dies, 
And evening darkly gathers in the skies ; 
Through deepening gloom, O Christ, let me abide 
Close in the shadow of thy bleeding side. 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



A SONG, 



WITH VARIATIONS. 



BY 



JAMES B. KENYON. 



//^ 






i" 



Jio.J.W.3JC'' 



PHILADELPHIA : 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO 

1880. 



o^^ 1879. .0^. 






Copyright, 1879, by James B. Kenyon. 



DEDICATION. 

O THOU who, in the sacred name of wife, 
Shalt garner good from all the years to be — 
Twin of my heart, O thou who unto me 

Shalt yield the perfect flower of thy life — 

Take these poor songs, faint echoes of past years, 
Sung in the ample light of this rich morn. 
Where Hope keeps watch beside her latest born, 

And Memory sits smiling through her tears. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGB 

Prelude 9 

Part I. — Evening. 

Amo ^^ 

Love's Vagaries . . . • . • • .12 

A Portraitiu-e • • • ^3 

Rembrandtesque ^5 

On Guard 16 

My Love is like the Vastness of the Sea ■ . . .17 

Flower and Thorn ^^ 

The Statue ^9 

Sign and Symbol 20 

A Fantasy 21 

Under the Shadows 22 

Doom ^3 

Interlude 24 

Part IL— Midnight. 

Complaint . - • • -26 

Marah 27 

Sympathy 28 

Sweet Nature hath a Being like Our Own ... 29 

If it Were 3° 

Foreshadowings . . . . . • • • 3^ 

Gone 32 

I* 5 



6 CONTENTS. 








PAGH 


Supplication 2>2> 


Unrequited . 








34 


A Fear 








35 


Desolation . 








36 


A Winter Hope . 








37 


By the Sea . 








39 


In Spring 








40 


Forget-me-not 








41 


The Miniature 








42 


Love's Consolation 








43 


Death's Mystery . 








44 


I Know Thee, Death 








45 


Death and Night . 








46 


Bring them not Back 








47 


Alone, yet not Alone 








48 


Returned 








49 


A Jewel 








49 


Love's Mist . 








. 50 


A Lover's Psalm . 








• 51 


A Vigil 








53 


The Morning Cometh 








54 


In the Twilight . 








• 55 


Heart's- Ease 








• 57 


Interlude 






. 58 


Part III.— Morning. 


At Dawn 60 


Down the Lane 61 


A Birthday Song 63 


Love Brooks not Delay 








. 64 



CONTENTS. 



7 



PAGE 

A Memory ......... 65 

Incognito ......... 66 

An Idyl of Life 66 

Song 67 

Leave me not yet .68 

Carmen Noctis ........ 7° 

Morning Song ........ 72 

Fior di Levante ........ 73 

Apology 75 

This Truth the World's 76 

Song 77 

Love's Healing • • 77 

Love's Mirror • • 79 

Song 79 

Revelation ......... 81 

Carol . . . . . . . . . .81 

All' Alba 83 

Love doth not in Castles Dwell . . . . .84 

A Song of the Sunset 86 

Overwrought ........ 88 

Doubted 89 

The Gift 90 

Forbearance . . . . . . . . -91 

Love's Victory ........ 92 

Recompense • • 93 

Epinicion . 94 

L'envoy. An Autumn Song 95 



PRELUDE. 

Life's a lovely, lovely story, 

If in life alone be love, 
And the day is filled with glory, 

And the night with stars above. 

Not alone of sunny hours 
Is made up the life of man ; 

Humblest weeds and wayside flowers 
Have a part in God's great plan. 

There is naught on earth so lowly 
But hath lessons it may teach 

Of a life more high and holy. 
Past the eloquence of speech. 

Is the day dark ? — on the morrow 
There shall be new life to live : 

He who knoweth most of sorrow 
Knoweth best how to forgive. 



IC 



PREL UDE. 

Who can mete the upward yearning 

Of the flower to the sun ? 
Who feels not the lovelight burning 

Through the stars when day is done ? 

Though the spring is ever fleeting, 
And the summer hastes to go ; 

Though o'er golden harvests meeting, 
Autumn falls in winter's snow ; 

Yet life's gains we cannot measure : 
All the wealth may not be shown 

Of the heart whose priceless treasure 
Is of love, and love alone. 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



PART I.— EVENING. 



I- 
AMO. 

I DO not know that I could love her more ; 

I know that I could never love her less, 

For none have ever felt her loveliness 
Strike on their lives but that they did adore. 
Where'er she goes there goes a light before, 

And music in the motion of her dress ; 

And in her voice is such rich tenderness, 
That eyes unused to weeping must run o'er 
With blissful tears to hear her when she sings. 

Nor do I marvel much her harp doth sigh 
With inward pain when she doth touch the strings, 

For that it cannot weep, but only cry 
Melodiously the rapture that she brings. 

To free her lot from sorrow I would die ! 

II 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



II. 

LOVE'S VAGARIES. 

I OFTEN wonder, should I touch her hand, 

If it would be like others I might clasp; 

Or if it would not fail from out my grasp, 
Unfelt and gradually as trickling sand : 
Or if it would not burn me like a brand, 

Or sharply sting as if I held an asp ; 

Or if I should not lose my breath and gasp, 
That in her presence I should dare to stand. 
But O, she seemeth me so far beyond. 

That I dare never breathe her dear name, save 
In holy sleep and dreams divinely fond. 

Which to recall awake seems madly brave. 
Alas ! I feel indeed that I am bond 

To her forever — though a willing slave. 



A PORTRAITURE. 13 

A PORTRAITURE. 
1. 
She's very fair, and in her eyes 
Her gentle spirit lies asleep, 
Still as a star in evening skies 
Mirrored by an untroubled deep. 

II. 

The ruddy ripeness of her lip, 

The rounded beauty of her cheek, 

Mark her, of all, Eve's fairest slip, 

The queenliest yet most proudly meek. 

III. 
I know she hath the stateliest form 

That e'er was clothed with maiden grace, 
And ne'er was neck more white and warm, 

And ne'er was a more perfect face. 

IV. 

To type her brow, so saintly white. 
There's not a flower howso rare, 

And all the glories of the night 
Meet in the rich hue of her hair. 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 
V. 

She wills to be not wholly known ; 

For, ever drawn into her rest, 
With livelier tint and lovelier tone. 

One knows not when she pleaseth best. 

VI. 

Her ways are winning, yet I think 
She hath than all a nobler art — 

Those virtues, sweeter far, that link 
The angel to the woman's heart. 

VII. 

And thus I find her truer worth 

In that which good alone hath given ; 

A tender being of the earth, 

But breathing the fine air of heaven. 



REMBRA ND TESQ UE. i 5 



REMBRANDTESQUE. 

A PURPLE passion-flower at her feet, 

And on her bosom a white lily lies ; 

And in the shadowy depth of her soft eyes 
Her placid spirit lieth fair and sweet. 
The shifting hues that o'er her features fleet 

Are radiant of love's impassioned dyes, 

And where the curves of shining shoulders rise 
Her glossy locks in tangled ringlets meet. 
Her faultless lips are parted in a song, 

The words whereof are hard to understand 
As a dead language or an unknown tongue. 

And yet I know it must be something grand. 
But if I say not this I do her wrong : 

She is the loveliest lady in the land. 



1 5 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

ON GUARD. 

She's sweet and fair, but is not true, 

And that, you know, is cause to rue, 

For who would woo a fickle maid — 

Would you ? 

II. 
She has bright eyes, but they deceive ; 
That too, you know, is cause to grieve. 
For so in her none ever can 

Believe. 

III. 
Her lips are very ripe and red. 
And lips are sweet, you know, 'tis said , 
But I would rather have her heart 
Instead. 

IV. 

Or rather I would have them both, 
For with the lips, you know, the troth 
Is plighted, when the true heart is 
Not loth. 



AIV LOVE. 
V. 

Fie ! I'll not fall into the net ; 
She's nothing but a slight coquette, 
And those, you know, 'twere better to 
Forget. 



•VI. 



MY LOVE IS LIKE THE VASTNESS 
OFTHESEA. 

My love is like the vastness of the sea, 
As deep as life, as high as heaven is high, 
And pure as an unclouded summer sky, 

And as enduring as eternity. 

My love is that which was, and is to be. 

Which knows no change, and which can never 

die; 
Which all the wealth of'Ophir could not buy. 

Yet free to one as light and air is free. 

O Love, thou putt'st to shame the nightingale ; 
Thy lips, like bees, are fraught with hydromel ; 



ig OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

Than lilies are thy bosom is more pale ; 
Thy words are sweeter than a silver bell : 

Yet time from thee tliy beauties shall estrange; 
But this mv love can never suffer chancre. 



FLOWER AND THORN. 

Like some rare flower of perfume divine 

That bloomed beneath a garden hedge unseen, 
Till favored hands by chance thrust back the 
screen, 

And happy eyes saw its proud beaut}- shine; 

So did I find thee, O thou Love of mine ! 
The fairest maid that ever walked the green 
Glad earth, and regal as a Roman queen, 

And lovely as a rose incarnadine. 

O Love, I found thee, and my heart was glad 
Of summer-tide ; but I forgot — ah, vain ! — 

That brightest blooms with sharpest thorns are 
clad. 
I cried, " O beautiful !" and sought to gain 

Thee from thy solitude, when o'er my mad, 
Wild ardor I felt love's most cruel pain! 



THE STATUE. 1 9 

THE STATUE. 
I- 
I KNOW not if it be the odorous air. 
Or yonder royal lily's stately height. 
Or if it be the tinkling fountain bright 
In the midsummer moonlight sleeping there ; 
I know not, Love, if tliese have any share 
In turning all my thoughts to thee to-night 

II. 
There in the dusk stands pale Mnemosyne, 
One hand upon her brow, one on her heart 
Pressed hard, as though she felt the cruel smart 
Of some old wound afresh in memory : 
Ah ! now I know. Love, why I thought of thee ; 
Wan Memory feeleth how unkind thou art 



20 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

SIGN AND SYMBOL. 

Love, love, love ! 

The mystic voice of earth ; 
The song whose sudden changes move 

From sorrow unto mirth. 
Mark the symbol, mark the sign. 
Beauty vain and youth divine ; 
A winged dart, 
A bleeding heart — 

Mortal hurts may never heal. 
Vows forgotten, vows unspoken, 
Broken bowl and pitcher broken, 

Loosened cord and shattered wheel ! 
Love, love, O love ! 

The rapture and the wonder! 
Evening star and morning bird, 
Distant echo, dying word, 
Stifled voice and song unheard, 

And lute-string snapt asunder ! 



A FANTASY. 21 



A FANTASY. 
I. 

A PASSION-FLOWER, a lily, and a dove ; 

A weary waste, heart hunger, and a thorn ; 
There, in the sunlight, far away, my Love 

Beside the sea sits singing to the morn ; 
Here, in a lonely shadow-land, I move — 

A silent shadow — hopeless and forlorn. 

II. 
O voice of song ! O song amid the flowers ! 

O wanderer fainting 'mid the thorns and sand ! 
Through all the long, glad light of summer hours, 

O Love, thou sittest singing on the strand ; 
See, in the darkness here thy lover cowers ; 

O lead him. Love, from out this lonely land! 



22 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



UNDER THE SHADOWS. 

Come, Love, and sit beside me where alone 

I sit within the silent shadows here ; 

Come, Love, come and drop with me tear for 
tear, 
And mingle with my moaning thy sad moan. 
Come, Love, and take my hand within thine own, 

And let me touch thy face and feel thee near, 

And breathe thou on my brow, and in mine ear 
Let fall the tender music of thy tone. 
O Love, alone within this doleful gloom 

Have I sat sorrowing since life's early morn 
Lost in untimely blight its splendid bloom, 

And all my soul with sullen grief is torn. 
Come to me. Love, and lead me from my doom, 

I am here in the darkness so forlorn ! 



DOOM. 23 



DOOM. 

Like a wan maiden sitting in the night 
Beside her dying lover, while no sound 
Breaks the oppressive silence brooding round, 

Save as she yearns for morning's anxious light, 

Her heart leaps up and listens with affright 
To midnight footsteps falling on the ground : 
So sits my soul in darkness as profound, 

And hearkening expectant, marks the flight 

Of time who, with vast pinions wide unfurled, 
And broken scythe and shattered glass, sweeps 
down 

Across the utmost boundaries of the world. 

Between his lips that dread trump yet unblown. 

From out the sky each starry light is hurled. 
And chaos is of darkness the dread crown ! 



24 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



INTERLUDE. 

Not every king may wear a crown, 

Nor kingly he alone 
Whose heart beneath a purple gown 

Throbs on the royal throne ; 
The kingliest spirits that have been 

The world hath never known. 

Not they who vaunt of lineage long, 
And of their gentle blood, 

Are peers to noble hearts and strong, 
Or to the truly good ; 

Not all that wear a diadem 
In courtly halls have stood. 

And oft is staid deserved meed, 
And many the tales untold 

Of high resolve and lordly deed 
Would shame the knights of old; 

That only angels chronicle 
In characters of gold. 



INTERLUDE. 2$ 

O wide is God's nobility, 

Nor that which blood doth bind ; 

The kinship of humanity — 
The realm of heart and mind : 

From lowliest walks of life have sprung 
The flowers of humankind. 

Yet there is hope, though here unknown 
Through all the world they move; 

For them awaits a conqueror's throne ; 
They shall be crowned above : 

But, ah, how sad their lot who live 
Uncrowned of woman's love ! 



PART II.— MIDNIGHT. 



I. 

COMPLAINT. 

I. 

Another ! O Christ, can it be ! 

Will another love better than I 
Whose love is as deep as the fathomless sea, 

And as steadfast as stars in the sky? 
Will she graciously yield to another's plea ? 

Be coldly deaf to my joyless cry? 
Folded forever away from me — 

Ah, better it were to die ! 

II. 
What could I give her more ? 

Nor time nor eternity 
Can take or add to the boundless store 
Of a love that never can die ; 
26 




MIDNIGHT. 



Lord, while the darkness deepens o'er the land, 
O hide me in the hollow of thy hand ; 
Prone at thy feet my strengthless soul doth lie ; 
Help of the helpless, help me or I die ! 



COMPLAINT. 

And yet she doth spurn it o'er and o'er, 
With cruel scorn in her beautiful eye : 

Like a shattered wreck on a lonely shore 
My helpless soul doth lie. 

III. 
Crowned with a thorny crown, 

Scourged and crucified ! 
Hope's frail blossoms, in beauty blown. 

Crushed by the foot of pride ! 
Ah, better indeed, ere tears should drown 

The light wherein life is glorified, 
Under the sod to lay us down 

And slumber side by side ! 



IX. 

MARAH. 

I. 



Yea, Love ! mayhap 'twere better 
If thou and I should hide 

Our hearts away beneath the grass 
Upon the green hill-side ; 



28 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

And there with palms close folded 
Above the peaceful breast, 

Unheeded and unheeding, 
Sleep on and take our rest. 

II. 

I know the Spring would blossom, 

And birds still build and sing ; 
That men would woo, and maidens wed. 

And folly prune love's wing ; 
But thou and I should slumber, 

Though stars forever set, 
Forgetting to remember. 

Remembering to forget. 



SYMPATHY. 

I STOOD at sunset on a gentle hill, 
And saw the twilight shadows slowly fall 
And darken o'er the landscape spread below 
More fair than any picture, while as yet 



SWEET NATURE HATH A BEING. 29 

Against my forehead gleamed the massy gold 
Of untrod mines within the western clouds. 
Deft unseen hands had broidered every hill. 
Below was darkness ; all above was light. 
The sky, a miracle of nameless hues, 
I saw as one in an apocalypse. 
Then like a sudden glory shot through gloom, 
Upon my half-unconscious spirit burst 
The boundless pity of the Universe. 



SWEET NATURE HATH A BEING 
LIKE OUR OWN. 

Sweet nature hath a being like our own ; 

She hath her joys, she hath her secret pain ; 

She hath her memories, like the sad refrain 
That haunts the heart when summer birds are 

flown. 
We cannot have our sorrows all alone, 

But nature shares them ; when we weep, the rain, 

Like tears, shines on the hill-side and the plain, 
And when we laugh she echoes back our tone. 



^O OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

O myriad-hearted nature ! thine shall be 
The reverence and the tender sacrifice 

Of hearts that keep their first simplicity, 
Such as we read in gentle maidens' eyes. 

Though sight were blind, yet should our spirits see 
In thee the semblance of God's Paradise. 



"V. 
IF IT WERE. 

Love, that thou lov'st me not, too well I know ; 
Yet shouldst thou look to-night on my dead face 
For the last time on earth, and there shouldst 
trace 

The silent meaning of a heavy woe, 

Wouldst thou not feel a pang that it were so ? 
Would not regret within thy heart find place, 
That thou didst stay the guerdon and the grace 

Thy lover so besought thee to bestow? 

Wouldst thou not feel a want unknown before ? 
A something gone familiar grown so long? 



FORESHAD O WINGS. 



31 



A vanished light — a ship gone from the shore — 
A presence past from out the world's great 
throng ? 
O Love, wouldst thou not miss the voice of yore? 
The song-bird flown, wouldst thou not miss the 
song? 



FORES HADOWINGS. 

Lo ! in the valley, Love, the galingale 

Bends to the blast beside the river-shore. 

And autumn pipes forever more and more. 
While summer's slender voices faint and fail. 
Lo ! now the liveried leaf grows sere and pale — 

A phantom of the glory gone before — 

And in the woodland walks we knew of yore 
Long since the songster ceased his tuneful tale. 
Love, let us love; life's summer waneth soon; 

Brief is the splendor of its fervent day : \ 

For every blood-red rose of balmy June 

Hath burst a tender bud of early May. 
I unto thee would consecrate a boon ; 

O shall we love, or shall we still delay ? 



32 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



-\rT.T.. 
GONE. 

Gone — and the sunlight gone, and gone the stars, 

And gone earth's beauty with her in the west, 

There yonder past the purple mountain's crest, 
And where the orange evening's lingering bars 
Grow pale before the flaming front of Mars. 

Gone — and gone with her all that seemeth best. 

Gone — and my heart is dead within my breast; 
Nay, cleft with doubts like fiery scimitars. 
Gone — and the music gone from earth and sky. 

Gone — and the heavens glow like molten brass. 
Gone — and the restless winds are hot and dry, 

And parched and thirsty is the land. Alas ! 
It were a sweet relief if I could die, 

And lie at rest beneath the blackened grass. 



SUPPLICATION. 



33 



SUPPLICATION. 

O God, and dost thou mock us when we cry ? 

And wilt thou look upon our sharp distress 

Neglectful of our utter helplessness, 
Nor heed nor help us though we were to die ? 
O takest thou no thought for those who lie 

Stripped and half-dead with wounds and weari- 
ness 

Among life's thorns, and wilt thou pitiless 
Look on our hurts and pass us coldly by? 
O Thou who in thy Son didst feel the blow 

Of palm and spiteful scourge, the speechless pain 
Of loveless solitude — Thou who dost know 

The unutterable pangs of being slain 
Of love for love — O end my bitter woe ! 

Yea, let me die, if so to die be gain ! 



B* 



34 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



UNREQUITED. 

Not to be loved by one on whom the soul 
Dotes madly — not to feel the secret bliss — 
The solemn, sweet, long, lingering lover's kiss, 

And that fine ecstasy beyond control — 

Is empty darkness and eternal dole. 

To fondly press a warm white hand and miss 
An answering pressure — in that soft abyss 

Of eyes to mark no lovelight — in the troll 

Of that rich speech to hear no tender word 
To voice dear love — no spoken syllable 
Responsive to the passionate heart to tell 

Its wild and yearning language hath been heard ; 

That loudly hath been smitten love's deep chord — 
Is utter madness worse than death and hell ! 



A FEAR. 



A FEAR. 
I. 



35 



A WITHERING doubt hatli seized upon my soul, 
For thou mayst meet another, and forget 
My lonely life — yea, think of me no more. 
And walk the world with one will love thee less. 

II. 

O dark with dolor is the morning sky, 
And sad the pomp of summer in its prime. 
And chill the winds that o'er the wild white waste 
Breathe desolation round the wintry world ! 

III. 

Beyond creation's utmost boundaries ; 
Beyond the farthest star that whirls in space ; 
Beyond that sea of blue whose billows break 
Upon a strand of worlds — were rest indeed ! 



36 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

DESOLATION. 
I. 

I KNOW, I know I may not go, 

In wind and winter weather, 
To seek a place where roses blow, 

And lilies bloom together. 

II. 
I should not find them, and my gain 

Would be a lost endeavor, 
And empty hands and bitter pain. 

Forever and forever. 

III. 
I cannot weep, though I would reap 

The joyful harvest sown in tears; 
I cannot put my heart to sleep 

Against the coming years. 

IV. 

If love be taken from my heart, 

Wouldst seek for bud or beauty there ? 

From love life cannot thrive apart 
And bloom divinely fair. 



A WINTER HOPE. 37 

A WINTER HOPE. 
I. 

O WINTER, thou art warm at heart ; 

Thine every pulse doth throb and glow, 
And thou dost feel life's joy and smart, 

Beneath the blinding snow. 

II. 
Thine is the scent of bursting bud, 

Of April shower and violet ; 
Thou feelest spring in all thy blood 

Yearn up like sweet regret. 

III. 
Afar thou hear'st the song of birds, 

And seest the bloom on summer's cheek ; 
Thou catch'st the lowing of the herds, 

The laughter of the creek. 

IV. 

Bland breezes up the southern slope 

Of June come burdened with the breath 

Of roses fresh and fair as hope 
Triumphant over death. 
4 



38 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

V. 
O sweet and rare thy visions are — 

The flashing scythe, the new-mown hay, 
The reaper's dance beneath the star. 

The splendor of the day ; 

VI. 

The shining grass, the peaceful stream, 
The purple beauty of the hill — 

No frost can blight thy blessed dream, 
Thy heart no wind can chill. 

VII. 

And I — ah me ! I too above 
The winter of my sharp distress. 

May catch the vision of summer love, 
And outstretched hands that bless. 



BY THE SEA. 



39 



BY THE SEA. 

O MAIDEN watching by the wide, strange sea, 
Hast thou a lover saih'ng o'er the main? 
And dost thou feel the sweetly-bitter pain 

Of a deferred but glad expectancy ? 

O hast thou watched the sun climb joyfully 
Up the red east, then slowly drop again 
Down the red west and into darkness wane, 

And still thy lover hath not come to thee ? 

O maiden, let me take thy hand in mine, 
And thou and I will sit together here, 

And, gazing out across the bitter brine, 

We'll mingle sob with sob and tear with tear ; 
For both are watchers by the dim deep sea 
Of human life and love and destiny. 



AQ OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



IN SPRING. 

O Love, the bliss of spring is with us now ; 

The scent of bursting buds is in the air; 

The panting bosom of the earth is bare, 
She hath a crown of flowers on her brow. 
List! music drops like rain from every bough, 

And sounds of merry-making everywhere 

Salute mine ears, and all the world is fair 
With blush and bloom, but thou art fairer, thou ! 
O Love, come down from yonder sunless height ; 

Come down, O Love, for here are songs of mirth, 
And love is here, and here are life and light, 

But where thou sittest only Pride hath birth. 
O Love, descend and gladden on my sight, 

And dazzle with thy beauty all the earth ! 



FOR GE T-ME-NO T. 4 1 



FORGET-ME-NOT. 
I. 

Blue little flower from the sunny dell, 
Where yesterday I plucked thee all alone, 

Go to her, tell her that I love her well. 
And all life's still deep music is mine own. 

II. 

Go to her, take the message that I give ; 

It were far better that her soft blue eyes 
Should shine one moment on thee than to live 

So brief a life beneath uncertain skies. 

III. 

Go, in thine eloquence of beauty blest; 

Go, and if haply it should fall thy lot 
To lie one blissful instant on her breast, 

In thy sweet language say. Forget me not. 



42 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



THE MINIATURE. 

Two starry eyes, from out a floating dusk 
Of cloud-like drapery, with a shadowy light 
Of royal meekness in their depths, to-night 

Gleam on mine own, and fragrance of rose-musk 

Steals round me. Softly each red lip doth busk 
The other to a tender pout, and might 
That veil be lifted from her shoulders white 

By other hands, they were too harsh and brusk. 

O little face shut in these ivory walls ! 

Like evening's single star to shipwrecked eyes 

That keep their weary watch when twilight falls, 
Or whitely distant sails that slowly rise 

With hope and rescue in their signal calls — 
So came ye to me, crowned with glad surprise ! 



LOVE'S CONSOLATION. 43 



LOVE'S CONSOLATION. 

I STOOD to-day beside her mother's tomb — 

Her mother, who died when my Love was young ; 

And thought, when all is said and all is sung, 
Is this the end of all life's bliss and bloom ? 
O this the end— decay, and dust and gloom? 

The heart forever still, and still the tongue, 

Gone triumph and despair, the last knell rung, 
Deep rest and sleep, deep rest, nor doubt nor 

doom? 
O what thy largess, life, if this be all ? 

The guerdon what of every earthly ill ? 
Ah ! Hope were blind, and vainly would she call. 

And Faith were impotent to do her will 
If this the end : but sweeter lot must fall ; 

Love whispereth. Beyond is something still ! 



44 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



DEATH'S MYSTERY. 

O DEATH, thou mystery of folded hands, 

And pulseless heart, and unresponsive lips. 

What secret dost thou hide in the eclipse 
Of thy dread presence ? O, from out all lands ; 
Beneath all skies ; from ocean's wreck-strewn 
strands. 

Where bones lie bleaching by the shattered 
ships ; 

From out the engulfing wave that softly slips 
With treacherous kisses up the yellow sands ; 
From world-old battle-fields, whereon hath bled 

And died earth's heroes ; from the quiet green 
Of country church-yards ; from the narrow bed 

Of many a long-forgotten king and queen — 
There cometh no whisper from the countless dead 

To tell what they have felt, or heard, or seen. 



/ KNOW THEE, DEATH. 45 



I KNOW THEE, DEATH. 

I KNOW thee, death, thou 'rt he who once did lay- 
Some potent spell on a dear friend of mine, 
And then the light of love surceased to shine 

In the fixed eyes, and slowly died away 

From the pale lips the words that love would say, 
Nor kiss nor call could win a single sign 
Of recognition. Yea, I know thee, thine, 

O death, is the all-mighty power to slay. 

What terrible enchantment dost thou weave, 
Thou fleshless sorcerer, that they who fall 

Under thy subtle influence cannot cleave 

The invisible bonds that bind them ? — Nay, not 
all 

The strenuous cries of those who sorely grieve 
Can pierce the silence of thine earthy pall. 



46 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



DEATH AND NIGHT. 

The bearded grass waves in the summer breeze ; 

The sunlight sleeps along the distant hills ; 

Faint is the music of the murmuring rills, 
And faint the drowsy piping of the bees. 
The languid leaves scarce stir upon the trees, 

And scarce is heard the clangor of the mills 

In the far distance, and the high sharp trills 
Of the cicada die upon the leas. 
O death — what art thou? Hast thou peace like 
this? 

Or, underneath the daisies, out of sight, 
Hast thou in keep some higher, calmer bliss ? 

Ah me ! 'tis pleasant to behold the light, 
And missing this, O death, would we not miss 

That weariness which makes us love the night? 



BRING THEM NOT BACK, ^y 



BRING THEM NOT BACK. 

Yet, O my friend — pale conjuror, I call 

Thee friend — bring, bring the dead not back 
again. 

Since for the tears, the darkness and the pain 
Of unrequited friendship — for the gall 
That hatred mingles with fond love — for all 

Life's endless turmoil, bitterness and bane. 

Thou hast given dreamless rest. Still let the 
rain, 
And sunshine, and the dews from heaven fall 
Upon the graves of those whose peaceful eyes 

Thy breath hath sealed forever. Let the song 
Of summer birds be theirs, and in the skies 

Let the pale stars keep vigil all night long. 
O death, call not the holy dead to rise, 

Again to feel the cold world's ruth and wrong. 



^8 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



ALONE, YET NOT ALONE. 

Nursed up in loneliness ; with mine own soul 

The one companion of my days and hours ; 

Fed on the light of nature, as the flowers 
Are fed on the invisible motes that roll 
Through the quick ether; feeling the control 

Of that God-Man who once with matchless 
powers 

Trod the far hills of Galilee, who towers 
High on his cross above the shining goal 
That this world's martyrs die to win ; alone, 

Yet not alone, my heart hath converse had 
With earth's great sages : the inarticulate tone 

Of singing birds, the murmur sweet and sad 
Of meadow streams — O Love, these things have 
grown 

Into my life ; yet love alone makes glad. 



RETURNED.— A JEWEL, ^g 

RETURNED. 

I. 
How all the weary months have fled 

I scarcely know ; I only knew 
That still the rose its petals shed, 

The sun still drank the dew. 



And thou art come, and with thee light 
And love and beauty back to earth ; 

O bloom and fruitage after blight, 
Abundance after dearth ! 



A JEWEL. 
I. 
Love, shouldst thou bid me pluck down out of 
heaven, 
To blaze within those glorious locks of thine — 
Gems never queen yet wore — the shining Seven, 
I could not gain them ; I am not divine, 
c 5 



so 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



If thou shouldst bid me plunge into the deep, 
And seek a pearl such as no human eye 

E'er saw, or mortal dreamed of in his sleep, 
I could not win it, though I were to die. 

III. 

Yet such a jewel as time cannot defile, 

Nor thieves break through and steal, nor fortune 
dull, 

I give thee, and thou spurnest with a smile 
Severely cold yet chastely beautiful. 



LOVE'S MIST. 

As mountains folded in a misty veil 

Are hidden when the heaven makes complaint, 
Their beauty seen not, save where, few and faint, 

The wondrous colors glimmer ghostly pale; 

Nor seen the lovely tints that downward trail 
From airy heights no human hand could paint, 
Nor beauteous shapes that, without flaw or taint, 



A LOVER'S PSALM. 51 

Across the living landscape slowly sail : 
So, shrouded in the mists of thy reserve, 

Love, not thy true loveliness appears ; 
Nor tender glow of eyes, nor dainty curve 

Of smiling lip, nor song for lover's ears. 
Love, surely thou wouldst true love's meed de- 
serve ! 

1 see not half thy beauty for my tears. 



A LOVER'S PSALM. 
I. 

What if the morn no more should break, 
And all the stars should cease to shine, 

Wouldst thou still love for dear love's sake, 
And count love's light divine? 

If all the hills stood sunset-flushed, 
And o'er them, breathing summer air, 

Bright Beauty like a goddess blushed, 
Wouldst thou hold love more fair ? 



C2 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

in. 

And, ah ! what if the flowers were not, 
And hues should fade from sea and sky ? 

Wouldst still grant love a happier lot. 
Though such sweet things could die? 

IV. 

What if the music of the spheres. 
Mixed with Amphion's mellow lute. 

Should softly strike on mortal ears, 
Wouldst bid love's voice be mute? 



Or if the morning stars made moan. 
And birds were dumb for evermore, 

Wouldst thou believe love's troubled tone 
Less tender than before ? 

VI. 

Ah, Love ! bring me no bridal dower. 
Save love that hath its own delight 

Beyond a song, or star, or flower. 
For love is infinite. 



A VIGIL. 



53 



A VIGIL. 
I. 

Down by the shore of the gray-Hpped sea, 
Down where the caverns are dark and deep, 

Where the white gull screams when the wind goes 
free. 
And the breakers roar and the mad waves leap, 

I sat, and the moon was a mystery. 
And the world was lost in sleep. 



II. 

I heard no sound from the outer vast, 

Though the spirit of storms was wild that night ; 
I heard no sound from the dreadful past. 

Though a loud voice wailed from that land of 
blight; 
I knew death rode on the bitter blast. 
But my heart was calm and light. 
5* 



54 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



III. 



For a thought of the morning came, 

And the pulse in my bosom beat 
Like a melody born of a musical name, 

And the time grew strangely sweet ; 
And my life rose up like a fragrant flame, 

And a blossoming world at my feet. 

IV. 

O sorrow was on the sea that night, 

And death in its awful din, 
And the white gull screamed in her lonely flight, 

But my soul was calm within ; 
For life had climbed to a holier height, 

And love was free from sin. 



THE MORNING COMETH. 
I. 

O SAD the night to tired eyes 

Long burdened with the weight of tears ; 
But sweet the blush of eastern skies, 

When morning's light appears. 



IN THE TWILIGHT. 55 

11. 

Yet sweeter far, when death's dark night 
Hath sealed on earth our aching eyes, 

To see in heaven God's glorious light 
Leap up immortal skies. 



IN THE TWILIGHT. 

Hope in the orient, hope faint and pale; 

Cheat not thyself, O heart, lest faith should fail. 

Nor cheat despair: 

Hope is not always kind. 

Yon lark, whose music thrills the morning air. 

Whose winnowing pinions cleave the sobbing 

wind — 
The wordless prayer 
Of weary earth for rest — 
Is surer sign unto the tired sight. 
Tired of watching through the long sad night 
For tardy dawn to light the starless skies, 
Than yon uncertain white. 



56 



our OF THE SHADOWS, 



heart, stir not within my breast, 

Stir not, O heart, by night so long oppressed, 
Lest yonder hint of morning cheat mine eyes. 
Sweet Pity hath assumed a strange disguise. 
Sweet Pity to proud love so near akin ; 
For yestermorn, as through the fields I walked, 
When all the world rang with the joyful din 
Of winged voices in the earth and sky, 

1 met her — her, the loveliest in the land. 
And, with a soft compassion in her eye. 
She gave the small white lily of her hand 

To me, who hearkened dumbly while she talked 

And though I cannot now recall her words, 

I could not hear for her sweet voice the birds. 

Ah me ! Ah me ! 

The very grass was grand. 

The very grass o'er which she moved away. 

And heaven drew nearer earth that golden day. 



HEART' S-EASE. 57 

2C2?::x:. 
HEART'S-EASE. 
I. 
Life must have its dreary days; 

Heart, look up, be brave and strong ! 
Darkened all thy devious ways, 
Lost thy hopes in life's dim maze, 
Yet shall blame give way to praise, 
Right shall surely conquer wrong. 

II. 
Is it grievous to remember? 

Brings the past a bitter boon ? 
Cover up each old dead ember 
Of the long, long past November 
And the chill and dark December ; 

Naught can gloom the smile of June. 

III. 
This the lesson of the flower — 

All who wait wait not in vain : 
Fret not, then, when shadows lower ; 
Whether sunshine, whether shower. 
Know that in the darkest hour 

Pleasure follows after pain. 



c* 



58 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



INTERLUDE. 

I SAW in heaven a solitary star 

Rise out of darkness clothed in livinsf lig-ht, 
And speed its shining message from afar, 

Across the lonely chaos of the night. 
The lesser Bear about the boreal pole, 

Like a worn traveller on a weary march, 
Had in its cycle well-nigh ceased to roll, 

And pale the stars grew in that world-wide arch. 
But now, when other lustres had waxed dim, 

And night was burden in the depth of space, 
Up from behind the faint horizon's rim 

Arose a fuller glory into place. 
And there it burned, with radiance newly born, 

Till night her ebon wings had closely furled, 
And in the east the ruddy light of morn 

Shook like a sudden splendor o'er the world. 
O blessed lesson ! In life's troubled night. 

From out the darkness shall arise a hope 
That, crescent, shall grow brighter and more bright, 

Till through the gloom we shall no longer grope: 



INTERLUDE. ^g 

No longer grope; and upon aching eyes 

Shall strike the morn, and night shall pass away, 

And from behind the veil, across the skies, 
Shall burst the dawn of Love's eternal day. 



PART III.— MORNING. 



I- 
AT DAWN. 
I. 
The long night draweth to its close ; 
Behold ! the daybreak doth appear, 
And in the east the orange-rose 
Of morning shineth clear. 

II. 
The dew-drop glistens on the spray, 

And o'er the lush green meadow grass, 
Parting the folded mists away, 

The whistling reapers pass. 

III. 
With mellow voice of milk-maid blends 

The lowing of the distant kine, 
And faintly down the hollow glens 

Morn's dying star doth shine. 
60 




mi^'^--'^ 



MORNING. 

Thotigh weeping may endure one bitter night, 
Joy Cometh with the dawning of the light : 
Forgive my faithlessness, O Saviour blest ; 
Henceforth lead thou me on, thou knowest best. 



DOWN THE LANE. 6i 

IV. 

O sweet to feel the life of dawn 
The bounding pulses thrill along, 

And sweet to hear, o'er lea and lawn, 
The songster's matin song. 



V. 

And sweet to see, when storm and night 
Are past, the day-star beam above ; 

Ah ! Paradise is surely light, 
And God eternal love ! 



DOWN THE LANE. 
I. 

Blossom here at my feet, 

Muffled in mosses and fern, 
O was it not here that she passed to the street, 

With a gracious bow, as I saw her turn. 
And a marvellous smile and sweet? 
6 



62 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



O here in your still retreat, 

Blooming in beauty alone, 
No fairer flower than you, I weet. 

In a royal robe has shone ; 
And yet her array was more complete, 

And her beauty rarer blown. 

III. 

Now tell me if she be true ; 

Your petals shall prophesy ; 
'Tis meet that they should, for they are blue, 

And blue is her beautiful eye ; 
Yea, blossom, bluer than you, 

And bluer than yon blue sky ; — 
Not false — ah, now what shall I do ? 

Sweet thing, I fear that you lie ! 



A BIRTHDAY SONG. 



63 



TIT. 

A BIRTHDAY SONG. 

I. 

No slight boon have the changeful years 

Brought unto thee, O virgin heart! 
As flowers wet with dewy tears, 
I watch the buds of hope dispart, 
While April merges into May, 
Thy life's sweet April, 
Love. 

II. 

This is the time when roses bloom. 

And thee, my rose, my fairest flower, 
My one sweet blossom in the gloom 
• My own life hath foreboding shower, ' 
I greet upon thy natal day ; 
Spurn not the greeting, 
Love. 



64 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

III. 

Life of my life, love of my love, 

Bless God for thy nativity ! 
Thou art my star, my hope, my dove, 
My life is staid in thee. 

Fold thou no meed from me away; 
Love's guerdon, Love, is 
Love ! 



LOVE BROOKS NOT DELAY. 

Days and sennights, months and years — 

Time hath known no lapse ; 
Gloom and glory, smiles and tears — 

Many are love's mishaps. 
Blight and blossom, frost and fire — 

Beauty fadeth fast ; 
Love consumeth of desire ; 

Summer soon is past. 
Dawn and darkness, morn and eve — 

Golden locks and gray ; 
Hearts that wait can only grieve ; 

Love brooks not delay ! 



A MEMORY. 



65 



■v. 

A MEMORY. 
I. 
It Cometh again and again — 

The ghost of a melody ; 
With an under-sound of secret pain 
In its oft-repeated, faint refrain — 
The song that she sang to me. 

II. 
The song of yesternight ; 

An idyl pathetic and sweet ; 
A song that rose with a strange delight, 
Till it fell like a wounded bird in flight — 

And I knelt in tears at her feet. 

III. 
I hear it, and still shall hear ; 

The voice of a day that is past ; 
With its hidden pain, and hope, and fear, 
'Twill haunt my life with its sorrowful cheer, 
Till I die at her feet, at last ! 
6* 



56 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



INCOGNITO. 

Lo ! I wander in a maze : 

Laughing lip, and grieving eye ; 
Smiling blame, and frowning praise — 
Strange and wondrous are love's ways, 
Evermore a mystery ! 



•VII. 
AN IDYL OF LIFE. 
I. 
Love, if beyond the azure overhead 

There be a place where happy spirits meet, 
Nor marriage is, nor tears, nor any dead, 
To die how passing sweet ! 

II. 
Past all the cruel fever and the pain ; 

Past barren hopes, and plans, and foolish fears 
Past all annoy, to die indeed were gain — 
The meed of longing tears. 



SONG. 



III. 



67 



Only to sleep a long and dreamless sleep, 

Nor heed the sunshine, nor the gentle showers. 
Nor shepherd's song, nor sheep-bell on the steep, 
Nor smell the fragrant flowers ; 



IV. 



Only to sleep, nor see the summer sky; 

To sleep, nor feel the joy that life can give — 
Ah, Love, though it may be a gain to die, 
Yet it is sweet to live ! 



SONG. 



I. 

If thou be true, dear Heart, 

Or false, I cannot tell ; 
I know how beautiful thou art, 
I know I love thee well ; 

I know I'm sad when thou art sad. 
And more than glad when thou art glad. 



68 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

II. 

And yet, I would not keep 

Thee from one pang or pain, 
If, sown in sorrow, thou shouldst reap 
Of good one golden grain ; 

For so the seed, sown tearfully, 

In flowers of light should gathered be. 



LEAVE ME NOT YET. 
I. 

Leave me not yet, O Love, 

Leave me not yet ; 
The acacia and the columbine 

With dew are scarcely wet, 
And yonder stately eglantine 

Still wooes the mignonette ; 

Not yet, O Love, not yet ! 

II. 

Delay a moment, Love, 
O make delay ! 



LEAVE ME NOT YET. gg 

In purple chambers of the west 

We'll watch the dying day, 
And from the foreland and the height 

Scare shadowy night away. 

Delay, O Love, delay ! 



III. 



Haste not to go, dear Love, 

O make no haste ! 
Not yet the lily foldeth up 

Her sweetness — art more chaste ? 
Not yet doth modest Dian fleet 

Across the dusky waste. 

Dear Love, O make no haste ! 



IV. 



Heed not the darkness, Love, 

Nor shadows heed ; 
I see faint Hesper in the heaven, 

And the firefly in the mead ; 
But if thou leave me now, O Love, 

Then cometh night indeed. 

O Love, give night no heed ! 



70 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



CARMEN NOCTIS. 
I. 

Now sleep hath kissed the white brow of my Love, 

And closed her pearly lids with touches light, 
While round her cloud-like musically move 
The winged dreams of night. 

II. 

The river murmurs by its hidden bowers, 

In monotones that swell or faintly swoon ; 
And sighing out their souls, the love-sick flowers 
Yearn to the pallid moon. 



III. 

From out the dingle ripples sweet and clear 
The plaintive love-song of sad Philomel, 
And Echo, o'er the solitary mere. 
Mocks back her ritournel. 



CARMEN NOCTJS. yj 



IV. 



There is a rustle through the damask fold 

Of curtains at the casement wreathed with vine, 
And Notus, through the drapery fringed with gold, 
Steals in with song divine : 

V. 

Steals in across the quaintly carven plinth, 

With gifts from lands where summer ever smiles; 
With subtle perfume of the hyacinth, 
And spice from Indian isles : 

VI. 

Steals in to sacrifice at Beauty's shrine ; 

He who alone may tread that fair domain — 
O dreamer from the southern palm and pine. 
Thy worship is in vain ! 

VII. 

The maiden sleeps. Keep watch, O silent stars ! 
Keep watch, sweet Luna, now my lady sleeps ! 
Till glad Aurora comes, watch, ruddy Mars ; 
Till Tithon newly weeps ! 



^2 OUT OF THE SHADOWS, 



MORNING SONG. 
I. 
Star of the morning, arise ! 

Arise in the hght of thy love ; 
Faintly the dawn in the orient skies 
Awakes from its dreaming the dove. 
O Love, 
Shine on the dark world with thine eyes ! 

II. 
Come out from the dim land of dreams ; 

Come out, for the dawning is near ; 
In the heart of the lily the dew-drop gleams, 
In the eye of the rose is a tear. 
Ah, dear, 
Aurora's light already beams. 

III. 
She Cometh from over the sea. 

And a hint of her coming was heard. 
When the flowers unfolded o'er woodland and lea, 
And a song shook the breast of a bird ; 
It stirred 
The whole sleeping world, save thee. 



FIOR Dl LEVANTE. 

IV. 

O blithe is the voice of the rill, 
And the print of the sandaled feet 

Of Morning shines on yonder hill,- 

And the day goes far and fleet, 

O sweet 

The day — and thou slumberest still ! 



73 



FIOR DI LEVANTE. 



I THINK thou canst not be, Love, what thou art. 
Or if so be, thou seemest more than all. 
For when thou speak'st I hear the blithe birds 
call, 

And in this there is something which is part 

Of yon blue cope and ruddy shafts that dart 
From out the sunset, of the mountains tall, 
Of laughing brook and loud-voiced waterfall, 

And e'en the love that blossoms in my heart. 

I hear in sobbing of the solemn sea. 
In sighing shell upon the silent shore, 

D 7 



74 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

In distant song of stars, in whispering lea, 
A frail, faint music I have known before — 

A voice like unto thine, yet not of thee, 

For than all these thou still art something more. 

II. 

O Love, thou art a part of that rich flower 

Which there in light unfolds a purple bloom ; 

Whose delicate aroma fills my room 
With hints of thine own meekly regal power. 
Ah, yes ! I know thee now; for but this hour, 

Athwart the sunlight there, with fine perfume 

A shadow fell from out the purple gloom — 
As falls the mist-blue light when tempests lower — 
And took a shape of fragrance, which was thine. 

O Zante ! thou and my sweet Love are one ! 
O Zante ! it is said thou art divine ; 

For thou in Hyacinthus' blood wast sown 
In loveliness, and like this Love of mine 

Art beautiful, as she is Beauty's own ! 



APOLOGY. 



sum. 
APOLOGY. 



75 



O WHAT a life to live, dear, 

If love were not, if love were not ! 
Or what might Heaven give, dear, 

Of sweeter lot, of sweeter lot ? 
No angel form in woman's guise. 

To give the great world birth, 
With hidden wings and holy eyes 

Might meekly walk the earth. 

II. 

O what a death to die, dear, 

Bereft of love, bereft of love! 
For torn the fondest tie, dear. 

What hope above, what hope above ? 
Ah, weary were the years, I trow, 

If close within the heart 
We kept no shrine where we might bow 

From all the world apart. 



76 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



THIS TRUTH THE WORLD'S. 

This truth the world's, that whoso loves is free ; 

No cankering fetters mar his glad estate ; 

That happy man who finds indeed his mate 
Mounts straightway up into eternity. 
He is not slave to time, nor trouble he ; 

Not bondman unto any cruel fate ; 

He knoweth not the pain of those who wait 
For that which never was and cannot be. 
Free of the free, and blessed of the blest ; 

Prince-prophet who hath a divine foretaste 

Of that rich joy which spirits feel above; 
Glad heart that entereth early into rest ; 

Blithe pilgrim o'er life's drear and desert waste, 

Thou art immortal. Yea, for God is love! 



SONG.— LOVE'S HEALING. 



SONG. 
O ROSES, Love, are blushing red. 

And bright the lily's bloom ; 
And sweet and rare, beyond compare, 

The morning's rich perfume. 
A braver beauty never shone 

Beneath serener skies, 
And ne'er have blown in tint and tone 

Blooms of diviner dyes ; 
And thou too. Love, art fairer grown 

To love-anointed eyes. 



77 



LOVE'S HEALING. 
I. 

Why should thy songs be ever gay, 
O love so full of grief and pain? 
I sing another song to-day 
That hath a sad refrain ; 

A little lay 
Like tender April rain. 
7* 



78 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



II. 



Love's tears make love's bright blossoms grow- 

O blessed be the frequent showers ! 
Nor summer sun, nor winter snow, 
Can yield such priceless dowers : 

It rains, and lo ! 
The earth is full of flowers. 

III. 

A cloud, like an unwelcome truth, 

Oft in its bosom bears a boon 
We wis not of until, forsooth, 
It droppeth like a tune, — 

O heart of ruth, 
Like dew in nights of June. 

IV. 

Come shine or shower, come bliss or bane, 

What matter, if they heahng bring? 
Love binds but with a golden chain. 
Each link a wedding ring. 

O happy twain 
Who weep, and weeping sing ! 



LOVE'S MIRR OR. —SONG. 



79 



LOVE'S MIRROR. 
Go to thy mirror, Love, where thou mayest view 

The rose of beauty blooming in thy face, 

And chide me not that, dazzled by thy grace, 
I give thee praise thou countest not thy due. 
A loveher h"p than thine I never knew, 

And never Hfe in fairer form found place, 

And Time, methinks, were he but to erase 
One lovely line forevermore must rue. 
O love were slain of love, if in thy pride 

Of secrecy thou shouldst veil every charm, 
And that whereof he thrives to love denied. 

Himself must to himself do mortal harm : 
Nay look, Love, in thy glass, nor longer chide 

When love in passionate praises waxeth warm. 



SONG. 
I. 
Fly, robin, fly ! 
Fly to the nest of thy love ; 



3o OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

Fly, for the evening star is on high, 
And the moon is over the grove. 
Fly, robin, fly away. 
For night is come with shadows gray, 
O fly away, away ! 

II. 

Fly, robin, fly ! 

Fly at the call of thy mate ; 

Fly, for the darkness covers the sky, 

And it is hard to wait. 

Fly, robin, do not stay; 

Hush ! it is no longer day ; 

O haste away, away ! 

III. 

Go, O foolish heart ! 

Go, with the robin's flight ; 

No longer keep from truth apart ; 

Go, seek thy Love to-night. 

O hasten, heart, away; 

They only lose who make delay ; 

O heart, away, away ! 



REVELATION.— CAROL. 3i 



REVELATION. 

I. 

Great God ! what was it gave me utterance 
To-night, and nerved my heart, that I did dare 



To brave my fate, and blindly throttle chance, 
And gain a good that seems too great to bear ? 



II. 



O peace and plenty after plague and dearth ! 

Not wholly dark the world, nor drear the way; 
God, grant I may not fail from off the earth, 

Nor find that I have dreamed with breaking day ! 



CAROL. 

Night from the dark world 
Her mantle hath drawn, 

And low on thy lattice, Love, 
Trembles the dawn. 

D* 



32 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

Morn from the orient 

Cometh in pride 
Of saffron and crimson, 

And fair as a bride. 
In thy garden the roses 

Are lying awake, 
And never a moment 

Of slumber they take ; 
They glow with the tidings 

They bear, Love, for thee- 
A message of morning 

From over the sea. 
O tarry no longer 

With dull-lidded sleep ; 
Fly the false visions 

That have thee in keep! 
Rise in thy loveliness, 

Morning-to-be ; 
Lo, I am waiting, Love, 

Dawn thou on me ! 



ALU ALBA. 



83 



ALL' ALBA. 
I. 

'TwAS morning, and the western sky was dark ; 

'Twas morning, and the west was drowned in 
gloom ; 

But in the east, as if a rose did bloom 
Within the doubtful darkness, grew a mark 
Of rosy light and spread in a wide arc, 

And higher up the heavens slowly clomb. 

Then those great clouds that in the west did 
loom 
Were sundered quite and vanished. A swift lark 
Rose from the meadow straight up in the sky, 

And from his breast upbubbled a sweet song 
That fainter grew and fainter, as more high 

He rose, yet seemed in rapture to prolong. 
Until in heaven it did fail and die, 

Below re-echoed by a countless throng. 



84 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



III. 
The world is very warm and full of light; 

Ay, full of light and beauty and of song; 

I cannot understand how I so long 
Have shivered 'neath the sombre wings of Night. 
I cannot find a thing that is not bright 

And glowing with the gladness of a strong 

Great love, and on the earth there is no wrong, 
Nor mildew, sorrow, care, nor any blight. 
There is a music o'er the whole wide world. 

And choral voices hymning in love's sphere, 
And like the Sphinx, Despair her wings hath furled, 

And very dull and heavy is her ear; 
Within my heart there lies a hope impearled — 

A new-found hope: O joy is everywhere! 



LOVE DOTH NOT IN CASTLES 
DWELL. 

Love doth not in castles dwell, 

Nor in cot nor palace he ; 

Not on land nor on the sea, 
Nor by flood nor fell. 



LOVE DOTH NOT IN CASTLES DWELL. 

II. 

Love is neither here nor there ; 
Not in cradle, not in grave, 
Not in dungeon with the slave : 

Love is everywhere. 

III. 

Love is not a poet's dream ; 
'Tis not that, nor is it this — 
Pain or pleasure, bale or bliss ; 

Neither gloom nor gleam. • 

IV. 

Love cannot be told by years ; 

Never young, and never old ; 

Never bought, and never sold, 
Save for smiles or tears. 

V. 

Not below, nor yet above ; 

Neither is he bond nor free ; 

Lo, behold the mystery : 
Love is — only love ! 



85 



36 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



A SONG OF THE SUNSET. 
I. 

List, Love, oh list ! 

Hear'st thou the voice of the trees ? 

Hear'st thou the music of the mist 

SteaHng along the leas ? 

O, sweet yon orange light 

Against the deep sky's blue repose, 

And bland the breath of the summer night, 

And rare the scent of the rose. 

II. 

Look, Love, oh look 

At the silvery shine of the stars. 

Beginning to tremble where lately shook 

The sunset's crimson bars. 

And there in the deepening dusk. 

Across the billowy lawn, 

The lilies lie in a dream of musk, 

Awaiting the dewy dawn. 



^ so JVC OF THE SUNSET, 

III. 

O Love, the night is come, 

And where the reeds and rushes quiver 

The voices of the day are dumb. 

O'er hill and field and river; 

And nature's fairest gems are strown 

Adown that radiant way, 

The spicy breath of morn is blown, 

Upon earth's bridal day. 

IV. 

Sleep, Love, oh sleep ! 

For night on the weary world 

Hath flitted down yon azure steep, 

And her dew-wet wings are furled ; 

O tenderly on tired eyes 

She lays her shadowy hand. 

And rich the balm and sweet the calm 

O'er all the quiet land. 



87 



88 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



:^:k.x'v. 

OVERWROUGHT. 

Last night, beneath the summer stars we stood, 
And with her fragrant breath against my cheek, 
I twined her hair in fashion of the Greek, 

And from the roses round about us strewed 

I made for her a crown as red as blood. 

The fountain rose from out the white swan's beak 
And fell with music ; still she did not speak. 

Nor did I break the silence of her mood, 

But marked the humor of her maiden art. 

She stood with eyes downcast, and I could 
hear — 

Or fancied so — the beating of her heart. 

She stooped to pluck a red rose growing near. 

And as she thrust the thorny boughs apart, 
I kissed her peerless cheek, and lo, a tear! 



DOUBTED. 89 



DOUBTED. 



I 

What ! dost thou doubt me, Love ? 

Have I waited, then, in vain ? 
Doth naught that I suffered prove 

My passion is deeper than pain ? 
Constant when thou didst scorn ; 

Patient when thou didst spurn ; 
Hoping, though hope of hope were shorn; 

Is there something still to learn ? 

II. 

Nor time, nor space, nor circumstance 

Can make or mar again ; 
A sovereign ordered not of chance, 

Love is not slave to men. 
Yet fearest thou that he will change, 

Now love to love is kind ? 
Ah, thou forgettest he may not range, 

For love was always blind ! 
8* 



90 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



2^X1 ATI. 

THE GIFT. 

See what I bring to thee, dear Love, dear Love, 

To type the pure affection of my heart ; 

I might not bring an earnest to impart 
How pure it is so well as this white dove. 
And yet were I to seek by this to prove 

My innocence of any specious art, 

I might defeat myself and in the part 
Of arrant knave, or fool, or jester move. 
O yet believ^e me by this snow-white bird — 

By every agony that doth inure 
The heart to waiting and to hope deferred — 

By every hope that ever did endure 
Against a blighting scorn or bitter word — 

My trust is loyal, my affection pure ! 



FORBEARANCE. 



91 



FORBEARANCE. 

That I should love thee seemeth. Love, most meet; 

For who that once hath looked in thy true eye, 

And felt thy maiden soul's white purity, 
Could other than do homage at thy feet ? 
But, ah ! I wonder, Love, when I repeat 

Love's oft-told tale and to thee madly cry, 

Thou dost not spurn my presence utterly, 
Or swiftly from my passionate arms retreat. 
O Love, that I should even dare to hear 

One uttered syllable of thine, or hold 
For one brief moment thy warm hand, nor fear 

To sit beside thee, seemeth overbold. 
Ah ! lover never yet was suffered near 

A mortal maid of so divine a mould ! 



Q2 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



LOVE'S VICTORY. 

Love, should I find thee other than I deem — 
Less noble than I hold thee in my thought — 
Then might the potent spell which love hath 
wrought 

Fade like the baseless tissues of a dream. 

For if thou be not that which thou dost seem, 
My reason to my reason this hath taught — 
That though thou be with outward beauty 
fraught, 

It can no want of inward grace redeem. 

But, ah ! I wrong thee by this cruel doubt, 
That ever thou couldst so dissimulate ; 

And now my love-wise heart doth reason flout, 
That he should dare presume on love's estate ; 

And sorely pressed in an inglorious rout. 
He flies the field and yields the spoil to fate. 



RECOMPENSE. 



RECOMPENSE. 



93 



Out of the darkness, out of the night, 
Out of the shadows of dole and dread, 

Out of the bitterness, out of the bhght; 
O joy ! let the dead past bury its dead. 

11. 

For the hurt there is healing ; for the weary ones 
rest; 

Comfort for those who in loneliness weep ; 
Lo ! the last sun sinks away in the west, 

And so He doth give His beloved ones sleep. 

III. 

Large is the guerdon, O Life, that thou givest ; 

Recompense sweeter than rest there is none ; 
O heart, it is thine, be glad that thou livest ! 

Sweet, sweet is the calm when the tempest is 
done! 



Q4 OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 



x:s::e:. 
E P I N I C I O N. 

I. 

And thou art mine, and mine are love and peace ; 
Yea, thou and these are mine forevermore ; 
The cold dark winter of my life is o'er. 
And spring comes in crowned with the year's in- 
crease. 

II. 

Yea, mine for time and for eternity; 

To keep and cover here within my heart 
Through all the years, and nevermore to part — 

Nay, death could not dissever thee and me ! 

III. 

Mine only, and the night is overpast; 

Mine, and the morning moves upon the sky; 

Mine, mine alone ! O joy to live or die ! 
Through flood and fire to the palm at last ! 



V ENVOY. 

L ' E N V O Y. 
AN AUTUMN SONG. 



O HEARKEN, Love, across the moat, 

And up the flaming dingle, 
The lusty songs of reapers float, 

And sheep-bells faintly mingle. 
The gorse upon the hill-side burns. 

And o'er the purple heather 
The yellow sunlight softly yearns 

Through this October weather. 

II. 

Adown the aisles of yonder wold, 

Dear Love, do you remember 
How gladly, hand in hand, we strolled 

And thought not of December ? 
But now the golden-rods alone 

Stand in the sun and shiver, 
Where then a summer glory shone 

By brook and rill and river. 



95 



96 



OUT OF THE SHADOWS. 

III. 

O Love, we will not wail the past, 

Though autumn cometh quickly, 
And round the heart death's icy blast 

Shall sow its sorrows thickly ; 
For in God's heaven the winter comes 

With desolation never, 
But there perennial summer blooms 

Forever and forever. 



THE END. 



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